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In a recent Federal Communications Commission(FCC) letter to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Julias Knapp, the FCC Chief of Office of Engineering and Technology, responds to an inquiry from the EMF Safety Network. The letter downplays the need for FCC oversight and regulation of their own installation RF safety conditions stating, “The grants of equipment authorization routinely list the four conditions cited by EMF [Safety Network] for the broad class of transmitters that include most Smart Meters….adherence to those conditions is not necessarily required for Smart Meters to achieve compliance with our RF exposure guidelines….the utility is responsible for ensuring compliance with any installation conditions listed on the grant of equipment authorization .”

In addition the FCC falsely claims, “the devices normally transmit for less than one second a few times a day and consumers are normally tens of feet or more from the meter face…”

See the following video about Smart Meter radiation. Listen to the clicks to see how often the meters are transmitting, and compare that to the FCC claims.

The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST)Health Impacts of Radio Frequency From Smart Metersfinal report was released on March 31, 2011. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) comments challenged the CCST, stating, “CDPH suggests further review of the literature on non-thermal effects, which is complicated and controversial, but does not support a claim of no non-thermal health effects from radio frequency electromagnetic fields.”

CDPH also provided the following links to documents regarding the controversy over Smart Meter (radio frequency radiation-RF) safety:

Daniel Hirsch, Professor of Nuclear Policy at University of California at Santa Cruz talks to Josh Hart of Stop Smart Meters! He explains that the whole body cumulative radiation exposure from Smart Meters is 100X more than cell phone exposure. He also states that the Smart Meter deployment “is a large experiment on a very large population”. More: http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/04/20/daniel-hirsch-on-ccsts-fuzzy-math/

Glasser: PG&E crossing the line on SmartMeters
Written by Howard Glasser
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
I’d be interested to know where a public utility company or state regulatory agency could be found guilty of breaching public trust, committing fraud, violating consumer rights and inappropriate and unethical conduct that falls short of the business standards most agencies and businesses are otherwise held to when it has deliberately manipulated and misled the print and broadcast media resulting in a misinformed general public.

No matter how sheltered the California Public Utilities Commission may be, does this excuse it from abiding by the law where its actions would otherwise be judged as criminal?

Here of some examples of Pacific Gas & Electric’s inexcusable transgressions where they have violated the public’s sacred trust:

1. Pointing media to the PG&E Web site which had stated that 39,000 SmartMeters had been installed in Lake County when at that point in time, only 2,500 meters had actually been installed.

2. Declaring a “delay installation” list that customers can be placed on through the PG&E SmartMeter phone line and then ignoring the list and not enforcing it when it comes to SmartMeter installations.

3. Leading the public to believe that an opt-out position would be considered or provided down the line for those customers who choose to opt-out while concurrently beefing up installations of SmartMeters so that by the time this provision was there, it would be moot since the entire deployment would be considered “mission accomplished.” That’s a shell game.

Regardless of the code that the CPUC cites as its operating guidelines, it’s clear that the CPUC is using its mandate as a shield to defend the commission against allegations that could hold water in court.

In matters where it can be shown that the public trust, health and welfare are disregarded and a state regulatory agency yields to industry’s demands while ignoring the people that it is chartered with protecting, I would think that the law provides recourse against such abuses of power.

No matter what the circumstances, the CPUC cannot hold itself above the law and where ethical and legal lines have been crossed, they should be held accountable to the people of California.

Howard Glasser lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
First printed in the Lake County News: Wed April 13 http://lakeconews.com/content/view/19220/927/

According to the incident report from the Santa Rosa Fire Department on April 7, firefighters found the electrical room at the Santa Rosa Mall “charged with smoke” and “upon investigation found 3 PG&E meters that had blown off the electrical panel causing damage to the interior wiring of the electrical panel. A fire was still smoldering..”

The cause of the fire is listed as equipment failure and arcing coming from the switchgear area, and transformer vault.

According to a Press Democrat article, Santa Rosa Battalion Chief Jack Piccinini described the scene as a “meltdown”.

EMF Safety Network has been informed that the electrical room was filled with Smart Meters, which have been reported to explode and catch fire in other areas, including Bakersfield, El Cerrito, Berkeley, Oregon, Virginia, Texas, Canada and New Zealand. Inspectors in Maine and Australia found thousands of homes were at risk for electrical hazards from Smart Meter installations.

PG&E has admitted Smart Meters have interfered with GFCI and AFCI’s, which are electrical devices designed to protect against fires and shocks.

“Smart Meters are dangerous and PG&E and the CPUC should act now to stop the installation” states Sandi Maurer, EMF Safety Network.

Excerpts from the article include: “Investors in this new sector should be aware that, despite its green-energy saving credentials, the smart-metering industry could become the focus of international concern regarding the levels of radiation generated by the new digital devices.”

The report suggests that the announced sale of Landis & Gyr, who make PG&E Smart Meters, coincided with the US Smart Meter protests where women opposing the meters over radiation concerns were arrested.

The article warns, “Should the US health and privacy fears continue to spread internationally, there could be global consequences.”
Another Smart Grid article posted on Smartmeter.com warns the industry, “A new study by Ovum warns that most ongoing efforts by utilities to gain early customer acceptance of smart meters have been inadequate. The report concludes that unless utilities do better jobs educating consumers about the long-term benefits of smart meters, it’s likely they will fall back on old power consumption habits and entire grid projects could ultimately fail.”